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DTU researchers receive Villum Experiment Grant 2025

The Villum Foundation awards 52 innovative research projects with grants under the Experiment programme.

Building 101.

Thursday 02 October 2025

Freja E. Klippmann

16 researchers from DTU have received an Experiment grant from the Villum Foundation to realise their innovative research ideas.

The 16 grant recipients

  • Professor Brian Seger, DTU Physics, receives the grant for the project ’CO2 electrolysis to pharmaceuticals’.
  • Postdoc Colleen Varaidzo Manyumwa, DTU Biosustain, receives the grant for the project ‘PlastiXterminator: Next-Gen Synergistic Enzyme Complexes for Microplastic Degradation’.
  • Postdoc Emil Hovad, DTU Compute, receives the grant for the project ‘Scientific machine learning for advancing the understanding of the 4D microstructural evolution in metals (SciML4D)’.
  • Researcher Gaoneng Dong, DTU Electro, receives the grant for the project ‘Unlocking silicon's hidden power: on-chip phase transitions enabled by a new nanocavity’.
  • Postdoc Innokentiy Zhdanov, DTU Electro, receives the grant for the project ‘Room temperature integrated light-squeezing single-photon detectors for quantum systems’.
  • Professor Jakob Birkedal Wagner, DTU Nanolab, receives the grant for the project ‘Sub-Ångström 3D Mapping of Single Impurities in Crystals via Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy’.
  • Researcher Nefeli Effrosyni Novak, DTU Chemical Engineering, receives the grant for the project ‘Can the two-state theory of water revolutionize aqueous solutions?’.
  • Senior Researcher Nikolas Angelou, DTU Wind, receives the grant for the project ‘Laser-based unmanned aircraft system for wind sensing’.
  • Postdoc Riccardo Ragona, DTU Physics, receives the grant for the project ‘PAMS; Looking at fusion plasmas with new eyes’.
  • Senior Researcher Shima Kadkhodazadeh, DTU Nanolab, receives the grant for the project ‘Live Band Nanoscopy: Mapping electronic bands in working photoelectrochemical devices’.
  • Professor Wei Yan, DTU Chemistry, receives the grant for the project ’Tackling the Forever Problem: Thermodynamic Solutions to PFAS Pollution’.
  • Researcher Weihua Tian, DTU Bioengineering, receives the grant for the project ‘Engineering an extracellular vesicles-based transfection method for challenging-to-transfect cells’.
  • Professor Wenjing Zhang, DTU Sustain, receives the grant for the project ‘PlasUp: Rekindle Plastic Waste Upcycling by Microwave Reactor with High-Entropy Catalyst’.
  • Postdoc Xavier Zambrana Puyalto, DTU Physics, receives the grant for the project ‘Van der Waals meta-crystal for valleytronics’.
  • Researcher Yong Liu, DTU Electro, receives the grant for the project ‘Watt-class Optical Beam Steering on Silicon Photonics’.
  • Postdoc Zhenghao Liu, DTU Physics, receives the grant for the project ‘Feedforward-enabled synthetic dimension photonics’.

Read more at the Villum Foundation.

Villum Foundation

The Villum Foundation is a private foundation founded in 1971. In 2021, the non-profit foundation granted approximately DKK 1.5 billion to technical and scientific research as well as environmental, social and cultural purposes in Denmark and abroad.

Villum Experiment

Up to DKK 2 million is granted for the unorthodox research idea, which is assessed anonymously without regard to the applicant's CV. This means the grant holders can be at all levels, from postdoc to professor.

The program is announced yearly in an open competition, with an application deadline in March.

Contact

Brian Seger

Brian Seger Professor Department of Physics Phone: +45 45253174 Mobile: 50 37 64 13

Colleen Varaidzo Manyumwa

Colleen Varaidzo Manyumwa Postdoc Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability Mobile: +45 24921686

Emil Hovad

Emil Hovad Postdoc Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science

Innokentiy Zhdanov

Innokentiy Zhdanov Postdoc Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering

Jakob Birkedal Wagner

Jakob Birkedal Wagner Professor DTU Nanolab - National Centre for Nano Fabrication and Characterization Phone: +45 45256471

Nefeli Effrosyni Novak

Nefeli Effrosyni Novak Tenure Track researcher Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Nikolas Angelou

Nikolas Angelou Senior Researcher Department of Wind and Energy Systems Phone: +45 46775932

Riccardo Ragona

Riccardo Ragona Postdoc Department of Physics Mobile: +45 93510084

Shima Kadkhodazadeh

Shima Kadkhodazadeh Senior Researcher DTU Nanolab - National Centre for Nano Fabrication and Characterization Phone: +45 45256494

Wei Yan

Wei Yan Professor Department of Chemistry Phone: +45 45252379

Weihua Tian

Weihua Tian Specialist Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine

Wenjing (Angela) Zhang

Wenjing (Angela) Zhang Professor, Head of Section Water Technology and Processes Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering Phone: +45 45251630 Mobile: +45 20352356

Xavier Zambrana Puyalto

Xavier Zambrana Puyalto Postdoc Department of Physics

Yong Liu

Yong Liu Researcher Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering Phone: +45 45256606

Zhenghao Liu

Zhenghao Liu Postdoc Department of Physics